Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-op Update

The Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-op’s primary goal this coming year will be working on their ongoing partnership with the Pacheedaht First Nations.

“They’ve always been very supportive,” the co-op’s chair Lorne Scheffer said, of the Pacheedaht First Nations, whose traditional territory near Port Renfrew the co-op has been logging.

This partnership, Scheffer said, will eventually lead the creation of a brand new co-operative, named the Qaly’it Community Forest Co-op.

Although the Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-op will still exist, their licence will be shared with the new group, which will have a board equal part Cowichan Lake Community Forest members, and Pacheedaht First Nations members. The forest licence would be held by the Qaly’it Community Forest Co-op.

This new co-op will be created when the Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-op renews its licence in five years, during which time they’ll receive a land-based licence, versus the currently volume-based licence.

Four years in the making, Scheffer hopes that this new co-op will see the light of day even sooner than that, with an increased forest volume licence coming along with it.

“It’s time for the government to step up to the plate,” Scheffer said.

Other goals were also outlined during the co-op’s Annual General Meeting, held in their offices on Thursday, October 14. These goals were made following yet another downturn in local forestry, recently.

“We’ve had a couple bad years,” Scheffer said, after the meeting. “The last two years weren’t that good, and this past year we didn’t harvest at all.”

Before the end of December, the Co-op will have harvested 10,000 cubic metres of lumber, with an additional 14,000 planned for harvest in 2011.

Although they’re going back to harvesting their allotted yearly licence rate of between 14,000 and 15,000 per year, Scheffer said that it isn’t enough.

“Lake Cowichan should have a bigger cut,” he said. “We’ve got communities that have been devastated by the forest industry.”

Most companies export their logs overseas, which Scheffer said makes financial sense, as they’re able to make a lot more money than if they kept them local, as the Community Forest Co-op does.

But, keeping logs local serves to keep jobs local, and money in the local economy, he said, therefore necessitating a larger cut for the co-op, which keeps all logs within the community, keeping local sawmills running.

“It’s also respecting the fibre that is in your own community,” Scheffer said. “We believe that the local fibre should be used locally.”

During the AGM, Scheffer was re-elected as chair, Tim McGonigle was elected vice-chair, Pat Foster was elected treasurer, Pat Weaver was elected secretary, and George DeLure was elected chair of New Ventures .

Lake Cowichan Gazette

By Tyler Clarke – Lake Cowichan Gazette
Published: October 18, 2010 9:00 PM